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Sunday, May 6, 2012

Camping in Assateague with the Wild Ponies

I recently had the pleasure of going camping at Assateague Island National Seashore. I went with a hiking group off meetup.com and we had over 100 people. We took over one group site and had a bunch of individual sites on the same ocean front loop.

The ocean front camp sites are the perfect location, tucked behind the dunes which protects you only slightly from the constant breeze blowing off the ocean. You can hear the waves crashing in the background as you enjoy the wildlife around you at these sites. There are plenty of interesting birds that love to chirp and visit your site, and they aren't sea gulls!

We went camping in late April to beat the mosquitoes. There can be a mosquito problem if you go later in the summer, so just come prepared!

Paddling through the mist on the bay side.

It was misty and foggy the first day I arrived. It was not raining, but it was like the clouds had dropped from the sky and were floating across the island.

I made friends with some of my camp neighbors and we decided to explore the island and see what there was to see. We walked over to the bay side and found beautiful views from a boardwalk trail. We could see people in the distance on stand up paddle boards.

In the distance behind the paddle boarders we could see wild ponies on the narrow peninsulas.

We saw a pair of mother and child ponies.

Itchy ponies

A cloudy misty beach.

Dogs were having a blast on the large open beach. After exploring the island, I setup my camp chair on the beach and enjoyed the beach as well.

Later that night, we all go together for a bit of a potluck and everyone grilled their meats on one big grill. We enjoyed a beautiful night on the beach under the stars.

Camping under the stars!

I couldn't help but wake up and watch the sunrise, with my tripod in tow.

Our tents for the "group" camp site were nestled among the dunes.

Sunrise over the dunes from my camp site.

Beautiful boardwalk trail leading to the bay.

Kite Surfer enjoying a perfect day on the bay.

At the end of a perfect day, hiking and socializing with the group I headed south for a journey to the Low Country, but that's another story!